Magaretta D'Arcy, a 79 year old peace activist who is also undergoing cancer treatment was arrested at home in Galway but NOT for bankrupting the country and saddling it with billions of debt, NOT for corruption and other white collar crime, but for the crime of having a conscience and actually caring about her fellow human beings. That's correct. In this country you can destroy it in all sorts of ways and you will be fine as no banker, politician, developer, bond holder or other types of people who have been involved in economically destroying this country, and causing widespread austerity, hardship and misery which in itself has led to many suicides and so forth. None of these people have come before the courts or been jailed. However for the really serious crimes of still having your humanity at 79 and doing something about it instead of shutting up and doing nothing, for these crimes, the state will bring the full force of the law against you and will always find some narrow argument to shut out the wider context of your action, to convict you and get you quickly behind bar. In that way the state quickly ensures that this dangerous contagion doesn't spread and it serves as a lesson to all as to what might happen to them.

Magaretta D'Arcy, a 79 year old peace activist who is also undergoing cancer treatment was arrested at home in Galway.

The Irish Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is sponsoring an invite only fracking workshop in London this Friday 15th Nov 2013 as part of its long term plan to introduce fracking in Ireland. It has already commissioned research to help 'determine best practice guidelines to regulate the shale gas industry in Ireland' (all their own words). There is no hint here fracking will NOT be allowed whatever the findings. This same body though is immune from prosecution under Irish law (See Box 1 below) making a mockery of it's regulatory role.

The future is not good for pensions and the further away you are from retirement the bleaker is the prospect that you will get anything like you have paid in. A number of factors have come into play to cause major trouble and nearly all of these affect the underlying basic fundamentals required for a pension system to work and along with the continual counter coup to remove the social gains of the past century by the financial elite, the prospects remain grim.

The coming referendum on the abolishment of Seanad Éireann would, if passed, remove the existing constitutional right of the President to refer proposed Bills to the people for a referendum. It would pass the initial responsibility of passing Bills into law onto the Dáil alone - a dangerous development, particularly where any ruling party might hold an overall majority.

A vote to abolish the Seanad would in fact pass most law making decisions that impact upon the people to the Dáil alone, passing such responsibility to a single parliamentary body, thus removing existing safeguards meant to protect against the introduction of unconstitutional or politically or otherwise motivationally biased law.

Abolition of the Seanad would mean that a single body, the Dáil, will be responsible for passing any new laws through parliament, which must then be signed into law by the President.

However, the existing constitutional right of the President to refer any Bill to the people for referendum will be removed from the Constitution.

Today the mainstream media are claiming that there has been a chemical attack by the Syrian government near Damascus even whilst an UN inspection team arrives. The reports have been conflicting with the initial reports claiming 280 victims and then later up-ing it to over 1,300 killed.

However, the claims are predominantly coming from the so called Free Syrian Army who are backed and funded by some of the despotic Gulf States, as well as Saudi Arabia and by the Western powers principally France, USA and UK. This same group is made up mercenaries of all kinds including members of Al Qaeda who want to turn the country backwards and bring in Sharia Law and just back in May 2013 the UN accused the Syrian rebels of using chemical weapons.

What is most telling though is that it makes absolutely no sense for the Syrian government to do this. In recent months they have retaken areas held by rebels and seem to have repelled several attack campaigns in the past two year. And France in particular as well as the other powers have been consistently in the last year being trying to throw the mud of chemical weapons and then chemical weapon attacks in a clear effort to force public opinion to back no-fly zones and from there total demolition of the country and invasion followed later by a pliant regime. The end game is to clear the way for an attack on Iran which the crazies have been pushing hard for many years.

Following Turkish President (and Chairman of the ruling Justice and Development Party) Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s threats last summer to impose prison uniforms on Turkish political prisoners (following the appearance in court of a post-coup soldier wearing a tee-shirt with the word “HERO” on it) the year has ended with the passing of Emergency Decree 696...

“For 79 days, the people of Cizre witnessed an exceptional massacre in history. For the sake of a humane and free life, they lost their daughters and sons during the resistance. Yet they have not surrendered, and have not asked for mercy.” (The Cizre Report, April 17, 2016, Peoples’ Democratic Party [HDP])

Responding to a recent measles outbreak in which 17 adults and children have been infected with the highly infectious disease , Dr Deirdre Mulholland, Director of Public Health for HSE East, has urged people to get themselves and their dependants vaccinated , saying, “the best protection is to be fully vaccinated with 2 doses of MMR vaccine."
The majority of the patients currently being treated are from north Dublin; five are from Meath, the HSE said today. A spokeswoman for the Measles Outbreak Control Team said that alerts regarding the disease have been sent to all Emergency Departments and GPs in Dublin, and Meath.

A little over a week ago the Spanish state attempted to take control of the Mossos d'Esquadra the Catalan national police force whose men and women have sworn an oath of fealty to Catalonia and answer to the Catalan government "la Generalitat". The Mossos sidestepped all such attempts.
The Spanish ministry of the Interior ordered the Mossos to cordon off with "do not cross police" tape and guards all potential 6000+ electoral centres. A civil rights movement emerged intent on protecting those centres. Friday afternoon parents and teachers as well as children stayed on.at
At 06h23 this morning I went to the school in my area, known to some as the "Forat". A neighbourhood which has a long and sometimes difficult history of confrontation policing (lives lost or ruined), and is considered by some the anarchist heart of the city. I joined the civil rights movement there.

Saving Western civilization and global freedom. I am seeking funding to research Islamic terrorism in Europe. My recent book describes aspects that require further research e.g. on 10 Dec 2008 the UN extended the domain of secularism to cover the whole Universal Declaration. I the chapter on Bangladesh I show how this certainly appear to lead to an enormous eruption of violence by Muslim extremists. This indicates that the UN's decision may have led to a increase in Islamic terrorism globally but requires further research.

Lula's trial must be annulled, Sergio Moro must be removed from the magistracy, dangerous element he is, and Wilson Center’s staff must recycle their behavior patterns! Humanity is tired of this mud! We all know that much more and much better is possible!

Christmas is an ancient feast that has many positive associations for people around the world. While the bible places the birth of Christ in Bethlehem it does not say when, but by the 4th century the Churches in the East were celebrating it on January 6 and the Churches of the West on December 25.

One thing is certain about Christmas is that it is rooted in many traditions and superstitions relating to nature that existed long before Christmas and many have continued in one form or another to the present day. The many strands of Christmas can be seen in the variety of different traditions associated with, or originating in, places all over Europe. These strands are, inter alia, the solstice, the Nativity, Saturnalia, Yuletide, St Nicholas, Father Christmas, and Grandfather Frost (Ded Moroz).

In 1762 Jean Jacques Rousseau published his book, The Social Contract, in which he wrote,

“In Greece, all that the populace had to do, it did for itself; it was constantly assembled in the public square.”

Rousseau was well aware of the importance of public spaces when it came to political change. Indeed, the storming of the Bastille on 14 July 1789 showed the power of the populace against armed guards defending the medieval fortress, armory, and political prison in Paris which at the time represented royal authority. Interestingly enough, the decision had also been taken to replace the Bastille with an open public space and the fortress was demolished within five months. Since then many open public spaces around the world have been the centres of political activity.

Another layer of shame has been added to the so-called National Coursing Meeting, the All-Ireland final of the blood sport, held in Clonmel over the weekend. A greyhound called Dicks Bimbo won the “Grace & Matt Bruton Champion Bitch Stakes final.”

Our group co-organised the large demonstration against Live Hare Coursing at the Powerstown Park Coursing Disgrace.

A quieter than usual and less well attended event. RTE did not even give much coverage, thankfully it’s a dying pastime which for us is the equivalent to child abuse.

Our biggest question was- why was a convicted man on charges of blooding gentle hares [to train his dogs} allowed participate?
He was Ger Mc Kenna’s son Owen Mc Kenna who was filmed at a Tipperary track some years ago. Journalist Donal McIntyre secretly filmed McKenna and others clearly blooding the dogs, for a BBC documentary on the greyhound industry. A court case ensued and Judge Michael Patwell sentenced Owen McKenna and a number of other defendants to prison terms.

Please see link (below) to footage of the blooding session (part of the documentary entitled “On the Line”) in which you will see Mr. McKenna calmly inflict pain and suffering on the captive rabbits.
The ICC should now be asked to explain its position…how can it possibly stand over McKenna’s involvement in the National Coursing Meeting if, as it claims, it does not blooding.

The spotlight among animal lovers will on the plight of the hares for the next three days (Saturday February 10th, 11th, and 12th) in Clonmel, Co. Tipperary, but spare a thought for the greyhounds. Several have already been withdrawn from the “National Coursing Meeting” due to outbreak of a highly contagious infection in kennels in four different counties.

Shannonwatch strongly condemns the facilitation of a meeting between US Vice President Mike Pence and US troops at Shannon Airport on Saturday last. The use of the airport by foreign troops on their way to a war zone is in breach of Irish neutrality, and the decision to hold a public display of support for a foreign leader promoting war on Irish soil is dangerous and unwelcome